Stolen West Seattle totem pole found in Oregon

An 18-foot totem pole stolen from a West Seattle park early last week has been found in Oregon.

A 69-year-old West Seattle man, who was arrested Wednesday night in connection with the theft, led investigators to the pole, in Keizer, Ore., just outside of Salem.

The suspect apparently had a crew with a crane help remove the pole, but it's not clear if the workers knew the man did not have permission to take the local landmark, police said.

The pole was first noted missing last week. The Rotary Club of West Seattle, which donated the pole to the city, notified the Parks Department, which alerted the police.

"The Rotarians were up in arms," said Rotary President Amy Lee Derenthal. "Some of our members were very passionate about our totem pole."

The pole, which features a large bird with spread wings near the top, is considered a symbol of the West Seattle Rotary Club and is featured on its marketing material and shirts.

Keizer police officers, at the request of Seattle investigators, went to an address the suspect provided and found the pole on a boat trailer, next to another pole. The trailer was in the parking lot of a Salem-area senior center, said Keizer police Lt. John Troncoso.

It wasn't clear Thursday who owned the second pole found on the trailer.

The Parks Department is sending a truck down today to transport the Rotary pole back to Seattle, where it probably will be police evidence for a while, said spokeswoman Dewey Potter.

Seattle police spokesman Det. Mark Jamieson said the pole appears to be undamaged.

The totem pole was donated to the Parks Department in 1976 as part of a Rotary service project that revolved around creating Rotary Viewpoint Park in the Fairmount neighborhood. Had the landmark pole not been found, it would have cost about $75,000 to replace, members estimated.

"We understand it's basically owned by the Parks Department, but ... we want to make sure it gets back up here," Derenthal explained. "That's the primary goal — to get it back where it belongs."

Detectives are putting together a case to send to the prosecutor's office, Jamieson said. They are still looking into whether to charge the employees of the crane company that helped take it from the park.

Molly Rosbach: 206-464-2311 or mrosbach@seattletimes.com

Information in this article, originally published Dec. 10, 2009, was corrected Dec. 10, 2009. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated when the pole was first noted as missing, and the neighborhood in which the Rotary Viewpoint Park is located. The pole was first noted as missing last week, and the park is in the Fairmount neighborhood.